4 – Monsters at the Temple

After their previous battle in an area of Felstad that interfered with their magic, my wife’s and my wizards ventured to The Complex Temple. This scenario features a circle of six magical pillars rather than treasure. The pillars must be fought in melee in order to earn a treasure token.

Before the Game, my druid managed to brew a potion of teleportation. My wife’s wizards again failed to gain any foresight with Awareness.

As the battle started, both of our forces moved towards the central ring of pillars. I took a more cautious approach trying to have cover for my soldiers while my wife rushed in quickly. Her tracker got a lucky critical hit with an arrow and took out my woman-at-arms in the first round. Her knight also managed to defeat a pillar and claim the first treasure in the second round. My spellcasters meanwhile tried to slow down her warband by creating a pool of mud and a billowing wall of fog.

In the next couple of rounds, more of my warband reached the pillars and the area became a crowded battlefield. Her soldiers struggled with some of the pillars and ended up taking damage. In one round, three pillars went down in quick succession allowing more treasure to be claimed. Unfortunately, the battle also attracted three wandering monsters (an ice toad, an imp, and a giant rat) and they all entered from my board edge!

Those monsters put my force on the defensive as I had to reposition my archer and tracker to get them out of line of sight. The monsters also made my board edge less safe, so I had to redirect my claimed treasure towards a different edge. My apprentice, carrying one of my treasures, ended up getting taken out by an arrow from my wife’s invisible ranger. In return, my tracker managed to take down my wife’s tracker with a good shot.

My animal companions luckily were able to close in on the ranger and my wife’s wizard. They took them both down over a couple of turns, and by that point I had a pretty strong advantage in remaining figures. My archer killed the giant rat, and my demon hunter had a moment of glory as she easily cut through the imp with her magical great axe. When the next pillar was broken though, a boar joined the fight. My snow leopard tried to intercept it, but was gored by its tusks and went down.

For the last pillar, our wizards both tried and failed to destroy it and claim the treasure. My bear then took out my wife’s wizard leaving the pillar in my warband’s control. Then my bear faced off with the rampaging boar (possibly the same dangerous specimen that had caused such carnage in the subterranean library) and luckily fared better than the snow leopard and ended the threat. My wife’s apprentice retreated at that point which ended the game since she no longer had any figures on the battlefield.

We both claimed 3 of the treasures. My wizard gained Robes of Arrow Turning, a Ring of Transference, and a scroll of Crumble. My wife’s wizard found a Staff of Power (3), a crossbow with +1 damage, and a grimoire of Elemental Shield. I sold the ring and my wife sold the crossbow. With our coins, I hired a new man-at-arms and my wife paid for her wizard’s fast recovery and hired a ranger to replace her dead tracker.

The Druid’s Warband

• Audric Silverbeard the Druid (+3 levels: +1 Fight, improved Brew Potion, learned Blinding Light)
• Roslin the Apprentice
• Jormund the Barbarian
• Nils the Tracker
• Dimitri the Archer
• Red the Demon Hunter
• Sansa the Woman-at-Arms
• Yara the Thug (dead)
• Jarl the Bear
• Jaeger the Snow Leopard
• Magnus the Man-at-Arms (new hire)

The Trickster’s Warband

• Freya the Trickster (+4 levels: +1 Health, improved Awareness, learned Steal Health, learned Strength; badly wounded, paid for quick recovery)
• Ophelia the Apprentice
• Kate the Knight
• Archibald the Ranger
• Alissa the Tracker (dead)
• Jamie the Archer
• Robb the Thug
• Scarlet the Thug
• Moira the Thief
• Annabelle the Thief
• Emilia the Ranger (new hire)